By Le Figaro with AFP
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“We have increased the tax on tobacco this year and we do not plan to increase it next year”, also declared this Sunday the Prime Minister on RTL.
Elisabeth Borne announced on Sunday that tobacco taxation would not increase next year, and confirmed in an interview with RTL that disposable puff electronic cigarettes would be “shortly» prohibited. “Tobacco tax has been increased this year and there are no plans to increase it next year.said the premier, as the government puts the finishing touches to its 2024 budgets.
“This does not mean that we are not very vigilant about tobacco consumption.“, nuanced Elisabeth Borne, pointing out that”tobacco is 75,000 deaths per year“. A number “huge” And “an important public health issue“. In this sense, the governmentwill soon present a new national plan to fight against smoking, including the banning of disposable electronic cigarettes, the famous puffs that give young people bad habits“, she clarified.
“Young people get used to”
With its childish, sweet or fruity flavors (marshmallow, ice candy, chocolate hazelnut, etc.), its brightly colored packaging reminiscent of sweets and its low price ranging from eight to 12 euros for 500 puffs, the puff, which exists in a twenty brands, worried because it targets teenagers, while the electronic cigarette is prohibited for minors. Several European countries such as Germany, Belgium and Ireland have already initiated such a ban on these small tubes which arrived in France at the end of 2021, and which offer a certain number of puffs for a nicotine level of between 0 and 20 mg/ ml.
“We can be told that it is not nicotine. But it’s a reflex, a gesture that young people get used to. Then that’s how they go to smoking and we have to stop it“, pleaded Elisabeth Borne. Former Minister of Health François Braun had already opened the door in May to an imminent ban on puffs, which must be part of an anti-tobacco plan planned for the period 2023-2028. Sanitary, the issue is also environmental. Disposable, the puffs are indeed made of plastic and contain a non-recyclable lithium battery.